More from the Holy Land

So, what have we been doing lately?...

Well, we've been having married parties and going to Bahji. Really, that's it. The married parties have been a lot of fun to be honest. They're not anything more than dinner or desert, but it's me and Mendon, Mara and Mark, and then another married couple. This is all just a little too strange for me because we have no married friends in Oxford. NONE. This is because there is this unpassable rift between undergraduates and graduate students. Mendon and I are probably the only undergraduate students that are married and we are not "cool" (?) enough to hang out with the grad students... so, that's that. All of our friends are undergrads. So, now that we're in Haifa and hanging out with married couples, perhaps with kids, it creates a bit of an identity crisis within me. I'm married and I never think twice about it around Mendon and our families. But now that we're "in" with the married crowd, I fluctuate between feeling like I'm the kid at the party, brought along by mom, and feeling like the married woman, whose next big step in life (after our degrees) is momhood; eek! At the same time, the dinners and deserts are awesome. Besides having lots of fabulous food we also have the most amazing company. I love hanging out with these people. Their maturity, their spirituality, their intelligence, their humor, the good marriage/relationship role models, they've qualities that just make them awesome people, the likes of which I've never really met and socialized with before. (Not that I was never cool enough. I just never had exposure to people like this. To be honest, I didn't know that they existed. Or, maybe I did know people like that and it just took me years to appreciate and recognize those qualities). So, Mara and Mark, and Mara and Mark's friends, you're awesome! Ok... enough of that rant.

Actually, I'm not done. Catherine and Steven have the MOST ADORABLE baby I've ever seen. Ever. Her name is Layla, and she has curly red hair.

We've also been spending a lot of time at Bahji. Mendon and I, a few days ago, went on a Sherut expedition out to Acre. We had to walk down to the Hadar, which reminded me of India in the way the shops were arranged. There was the half block of bakeries, the half block of women's stores, the half block of stationary stores, etc, etc. Very much like India. So, Mendon and I found our way to the half block of pizza places and made a stop there. We weaved our way back to the Sherut street to flag down a driver. Once we got to Bahji, which we managed to do without too much trouble, we spent the evening in the Shrine of Baha'u'llah and then headed back. (Once we were off the shreut, we got pastries on the half block of bakeries). Again, we went there today... at SIX AM! Eesh, that was an early wake-up. But, I spent the morning reading and relaxing while Mendon started service for gardens, and then from 9-11, I had my first shift as a Holy Places Guide (the second was from 1-3). This meant that I spent the day (with my shoes off) sitting, and then standing, and reading, and praying, and sweeping, and sweeping, and sweeping. I had to sweep because there was a tree nearby with tiny, tiny leaves, which fell right in front of the Shrine. Well, when one goes into the Shrine, one takes one's shoes off, which leaves a bunch of socks to pick up all of these tiny leaves and walk them all over the inside of the Shrine of Baha'u'llah. I was vigilant, rest assured. : ) Overall, it was awesome. I had the priviledge of watching all of the pilgrims, visitors, and believers prepare for and walk away from a deeply spiritual experience. It was fabulous. Everyone was happy. There was even a baby that went in the Shrine, and it was amazingly calm and well-behaved.

Along those Bahji lines: I really love the door to the Shrine of Baha'u'llah. Outside of its beauty, there's something really comforting about it for me. I like the solidity of the door, the silence with which it shuts, the certainty that it is shut, the feeling of shutting myself into a holy place. I suppose the door has become symbolic for my own spritual preparation. Small little thought of my experiences. I've had quite a few others and I'm enjoying all of this thoroughly. I'm also enjoying the awesome food that we're about to eat/eating (pizza and Chinese from Giraffe). We've been eating so well here... Mara and Mark are taking such good care of us. Thank you!

Oh, yeah, and since everyone else is posting sock pictures: